#finnjannah

“The signal’s coming from that command ship,” Finn said, sounding as sure of it as if he could actually see the electronic waves that were directing hundreds of Star Destroyers through a maze of gas and rock. Was this the Force, too? Was that energy field similar to electricity? Was electricity part of it? “That’s our drop zone,” Finn concluded.

Jannah nodded. The orbaks could handle far rougher terrain than a Star Destroyer’s surface. And as long as Kylo Ren’s command ship stayed within Exegol’s atmosphere, they’d be able to breathe. They’d just have to work quickly.

The time to talk to Finn about what this all meant—the Force, their defections, everything—would come later. If they survived this.

Only—

“Finn,” Jannah said in a low voice as the Fortitude began its descent, “do you think any other stormtroopers can be saved?”

Finn paused, his hands on his orbak’s reins. “What?” he asked.

“Did you ever—did we ever—think about ways to help them?” Jannah asked. “Did we ever try anything? I was lucky; my whole company defected, so we were able to take our ship. But how often does that sort of opportunity come along?”

Finn’s eyebrows went together. “I was lucky too,” he said. “Poe was there when I needed a way to escape. Back then I didn’t know how to fly anything.” He frowned. “Jannah, I don’t know if the Resistance has even thought about this before. I don’t know if maybe people just thought I was special or something, and that no one else wanted to defect. I...I might have thought that too?” He looked away. “I didn’t know there was anyone else like me. Until I met you.”

Jannah closed her eyes briefly against sudden frustration. “There could be a lot more like us,” she said. “But this mission won’t save them. It’ll kill them.”

“You’re right.” Finn’s fingers curled in his orbak’s hair. “We’ve gone about this whole thing wrong, haven’t we?”

“There’s still time to do something,” piped up a small but fervent voice. Jannah looked around in surprise to find Commander Rose Tico standing a little ways off to the side. “Sorry,” Rose said, embarrassment in her voice. “I overheard.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Finn said reassuringly, and she relaxed. “What are you thinking?”

“The transmission tower,” Rose said. “It’s powerful enough to send a message to the entire Final Order fleet.”

“Of course!” Jannah said, frustration evaporating in a rush of excitement. “Instead of destroying the tower, we give it a new message!"

“Let me tell Poe there’s been a change of plans,” Finn said, jogging back up to the cockpit.

~

The assault team burst out of the Fortitude and barreled toward the transmission tower. Finn let out a whoop, boasting about his riding skills, and Jannah had to smile.

They had to dismount the closer they got to the tower, and just as they did, a troop carrier unloaded a squad of stormtroopers in bright red armor right in front of them.

“Set to stun!” Jannah yelled.

“You don’t have to fight us!” Finn called to the stormtroopers. “We used to be stormtroopers too! We’re here to help you!”

“We won’t hurt you!” Jannah added. When one of the troopers started to aim for her, she fired an arrow straight into the barrel of their weapon, disabling it.

“Damn,” Finn said admiringly, and Jannah shot him a grin.

They ended up having to stun or otherwise disable all the red-armored stormtroopers, but Jannah was still hopeful their ultimate plan would work. If nothing else, overriding the tower’s signal would stop the Star Destroyers from leaving Exegol space. She and Finn hurried ahead to the transmission tower with Rose and BB-8 while the rest of the crew took up protective positions, guarding against more stormtroopers and passing TIEs.

It took a few tense minutes, but finally Rose cried out “Got it!” She threw a lever, and the transmission tower shuddered as its signal abruptly changed.

Jannah and Finn looked at each other, eyes wide and hopeful. Now all they could do was wait. Jannah put her hand on top of Finn’s and squeezed it tightly, and Finn swallowed, and in that moment Jannah thought she could feel what Finn was feeling: excitement, joy, fear, and—want? Need? Before she could overthink it she was leaning toward him, and he was leaning toward her—and then their lips met, and the battle around them seemed to fade away.

~

Across the Final Order fleet, every holoprojector in every cockpit and training room came to life with an image of the traitor, Finn, and a woman who identified herself as “Jannah, formerly TZ-1719.”

“We were stormtroopers, just like you,” Finn said. “But we never had a choice in that. We were taken as kids, just like you. We have a choice now. You have a choice now. You can stay with the people who kidnapped you and forced you to fight and kill and die for them, or you can rise up and help stop them from doing the same thing to everyone in the galaxy.”

“Did you know that Company 77 defected?” Jannah asked. “Did they tell you, or did they hide it from you? An entire company, that’s got to be embarrassing, right?”

“We know there are more of us out there,” Finn said. “More stormtroopers who want a different life. We’re here to tell you that you can have it! There are more of you than there are of them.”

“Company 77 took the ship we were assigned to. You can take the ship you’re assigned to. They can’t stop you,” Jannah said. “You can stop them.”

“There’s a whole galaxy out there,” Finn said. “You don’t have to conquer it for someone else. You can live in it, for you.”

“You can make friends. You can live at peace. You can find...” Jannah looked at Finn, a real smile spreading across her face, and Finn smiled back and took her hand. “It’s time to tell the First Order, the Final Order, the new Empire, whatever this thing is trying to be, that its time is over,” she concluded. “That now, it’s your time.”

The message repeated several dozen times—long enough for the stormtroopers it inspired to take control of every single ship in the Final Order fleet.

~

In the end, the stormtroopers were evacuated, the Final Order officers were taken into custody, and the Star Destroyers were left to plummet back to the surface of Exegol, where they were then destroyed, along with the planet itself, by their own superlasers. The galaxy fleet brought everyone home, back to the fledgling second reincarnation of the Republic, where all those who renounced their pasts in the First and Final Order were given new lives. Lando Calrissian formed an organization to help former stormtroopers find their families; it wasn’t long before he found his own daughter, who had been taken when she was an infant. Jannah and Finn joined Rey’s new Jedi school, swiftly becoming teachers to the others: former stormtroopers, orphan children rescued from Canto Bight, and other beings from across the galaxy.

The former First and Final Order officers who did not show remorse were tried and convicted for their crimes. Their punishment was not death but lifelong service to the Republic, learning trades and helping those in need. Many thrived in their new, less stressful environments, and some even came to regret their past lives. Others, notably Allegiant General Enric Pryde, who died unexpectedly when a moisture vaporator he was attempting to sabotage blew up in his face, were bitter to the end.

With the emperor gone, a new generation of Jedi dedicated to knowledge and defense, and a more thoughtful, inclusive New Republic, the galaxy entered into an age of peace that lasted for millennia.

And Jannah and Finn lived happily ever after.

~